Improved instrument for extracting nails



. UNITED STATES PATENT OEETCE.

ROBERT MCCONNELL, OF LAWBENGEVILLE, PENNSYLVANIA.

IMPROVED INSTRUMENT FOR EXTRACTING NAILS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 50,8311, dated November7, 1865.

To all whom it may concern: y

Be it knowu that I, ROBERT MCCONNELL, of Lawrenceville, in the county ofAllegheny and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and usefulImprovement in Instruments for Extracting' Nails and Spikes; and I dohereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exactdescription of the same, reference being had to the accompanyingdrawings, making a part of this specilication, in which- Figure 1 is aperspective view 5 Figs. 2 and 3, side views of the same.

Before proceeding to describe the construction and arrangement of myimproved instrument, I wish to state that the same is designed for thcpurpose of extracting spikes, nails, or sprigs when the same arecompletely driven or punched into the wood, in which case an ordinarypair of pinchers, claw, or other instrument could not be applied, onaccount of the difficulty or impossibility of taking al hold at themwith the said instruments.

The nature ot' my improved nail-extractor consists in the arrangementota pair of pinchers made at their lower end in a pointed or wedge shape,so that the two parts thereof may be driven into the wood on both sidesof the nail to be extracted, and attached to a 1ever in such a manner asto allow them some play independent of the lever, there being, further,another lever provided operating a wedge, by means of which the twoparts of the pincherscan be firmly pressed together, taking thereby atirni hold of the nail-head and enabling thus to extract the nail byraising the lever to which the pinchers are attached, as will be morefully set forth in the following specific description.

In all the figures ot' the drawings the same letters of reference aremarked on like parts.

A is the main lever, provided with a handle, a, and two legs, b b',forming the fulcrums of the lever when the nail is being extracted.

B B are the pinchers, of a flat shape, and passing through acorresponding opening in the lever A, the part- B butting with its upperend against a shoulder, C, of the part B. The two parts are held inposition in relation to each other by a small pin, d, (indicated bydotted lines.) The lower ends or bits of the pinchers e e are made asshown in drawingsviz., pointed and hook-shaped.

fis a spring held by the pin g, and having a tendency of keeping thebits .e e apart. The pinchers are allowed to slide a small distance upor down in their opening in the lever, the distance being limiteddownward by the shoulders h It when coming in contact with thc body ofthe lever, and upward by the springf when butting with the lower endsot' its prongs against the hook-projections of the bits c c.

C C is a lever provided with a handle, i t', and having its fulcrum atk,- l, a wedge attached to the lever C by a piu, and passing through themain lever A, in which the opening for the. reception of the bits isextended for it. m is another wedge, on the opposite side of thepinchers, kept in position by a setscrew, u, by means of which the samemay he set higher or lower.

The manner in which the described instrument is used, and in which thedifferent parts constituting the same act, is as follows: The instrumentis held, as shown in Fig. l, so that the head of the nail to beextracted is between the bit ends of the pinchers. By striking then witha hammer on the head of the pinchers, as indicated by arrow I, the bitends are driven into the wood from which the nail is to be extractedsufficiently to allow them to take a hold under the head of the nail, asshown in Figs. 2 and 3. Pressing down now the lever G causes the wedge lto ascend, and thereby forces the bit ends of the pinchers together,which take thus a iirm hold under the nailhead. By raising the lever Athe nail can now be readily pulled out, in which operation the leg 11forms the 'ulcrum of the lever at the starting of the nail and the leg bfor the completion ot' the extraction.

The wedge m is for the purpose ot' adjustingtheinstrumentfordifterentsizes ofnails. Thus, if the wedge (by means ot'the set-screws u) is set as shown in Fig. 2, the pinchers are partiallypressed together thereby, and the instrument is set to suit small -sizednails. It' the wedge, however, is set as shown in Fig. 3, the pinchersare wider apart, and thus adapted for the extraction of larger-sizednails.

Ihe arrangement of the pinchers ot' being allowed to slide toa certaindegree in their opening through the lever A, as has been described, isfor the purpose of obviating vibrations in the lever, which would becaused by the striking with a hammer on the head of the combination withthe lever G and wedges l and pinehers,if the same were in e firmconnection m, when constructed and arranged as and for with the lever.

Having thus fully described my improved nail-extractor, what I claimherein as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, sv The lever A,with the pinehers B lend B', in

| the purpose set forth.

ROBERT MCGONNELL. Witnesses A. S. NIoHoLsoN, HENRY MOSER.

